I've wanted a System 5MC ever since they first came out. But the price was prohibitive at the time and there was no way to justify the expense. Now with the S6 taking over, I'm seeing a few S5MC's showing up on the used market and wondering If I should try to get one now.

The big question is, if I get one now, how difficult will it be to maintain it? Is there ANY support for these desks now? If you were in the market for one now, would you get one? What's a fair price for a 16 or 24 fader unit? How much difference is there between the black and original silver ones? Most importantly, if something breaks, can you get parts & what are average repairs costs running in the U.S.?

Can you at least explain the difference in the colors? Are the black ones just Avid Branded units, like the Artist Series, or is there some other difference?

Can you run more than one monitor with them? I only see pictures with the single monitor over the MC Pro section showing the project window. Can I run additonal monitors to show the DAW's mixer, channel,etc?

I've seen multiple posts about different versions of the 408 buckets. What's the difference there? Which ones work with with versions?

I would really like to make an informed decision here. The units I'm looking at are out of state. So I can't just go to the dealership to sit down and try them out. Even if I could, I want REAL WORLD INFORMATION, not salesman hype. What do I need to look out for? What questions SHOULD I be asking?

Hi, I'm the Product Manager for EUCON surfaces and can help answer your questions. Whilst we would obviously prefer you to get a S6, the MCPro still has life in it yet. We changed the internal hardware a few times over the 11 years its been around. I know of a few early silver models still being used daily but I would recommend going for a later black one as they have many hardware improvements, a real jog wheel and they are easier to repair. The Black ones were both Euphonix and Avid branded but are basically the same inside. Two models exist, 4 faders or 2 joysticks.
Avid is committed to about 2 years more support and if we still have the parts after that we probably wouldn't turn away repairs. We will be doing at least one more software release this year adding the latest EUCON improvements and PT 12 comparability. We have a release candidate already for anyone having issues with the previous version.

If you want 408 modules any touch knob module will work (the old phat knobs S5 modules wont). If the 408 module came from a S5MC system then they are good to go, if from a S5 they need to be re-imaged (available in the Avid website)

For screens, some people have installed dual TFT's but you have to make a custom mount and are restricted to the screen size.

As for costs this can vary hugely, the soft-key switches are not cheap so check they all work, there's a common issue with the power supply voltage not being set correctly that results in graphical blocks on the MCPro's TFT screen on boot, but that's easily fixable.

Hi, I'm the Product Manager for EUCON surfaces and can help answer your questions. Whilst we would obviously prefer you to get a S6, the MCPro still has life in it yet. We changed the internal hardware a few times over the 11 years its been around. I know of a few early silver models still being used daily but I would recommend going for a later black one as they have many hardware improvements, a real jog wheel and they are easier to repair. The Black ones were both Euphonix and Avid branded but are basically the same inside. Two models exist, 4 faders or 2 joysticks.
Avid is committed to about 2 years more support and if we still have the parts after that we probably wouldn't turn away repairs. We will be doing at least one more software release this year adding the latest EUCON improvements and PT 12 comparability. We have a release candidate already for anyone having issues with the previous version.

If you want 408 modules any touch knob module will work (the old phat knobs S5 modules wont). If the 408 module came from a S5MC system then they are good to go, if from a S5 they need to be re-imaged (available in the Avid website)

For screens, some people have installed dual TFT's but you have to make a custom mount and are restricted to the screen size.

As for costs this can vary hugely, the soft-key switches are not cheap so check they all work, there's a common issue with the power supply voltage not being set correctly that results in graphical blocks on the MCPro's TFT screen on boot, but that's easily fixable.

Hope this helps...ask more if needed.

Eddie

Thank you so much for your reply. This information has been very helpful! Both of the units I'm looking at come with the fader buckets included. One is a 16 Fader sytem in a 24 fader frame, hence the question, as I'd like to fill that last slot. The one in the 16 fader frame has the old fat knobs you referred to. If support is only 2 years out, I'm guessing I should look more closely at the newer of the 2 systems. Thanks so much for your help!

Hi,
We have had 2 System-5 and now we have a 5-MC 16 faders and a S6 16 faders.
Bought our 5MC second hand in 2012 from a music shop in Chicago, and it came down here in Paris ,France in perfect shape except the high shipping price.
This desk was one of the first black ones. Worked flawlessly since, we just had some minor issues, close to the ones we had with our previous S5.

We had to change our power supply with broke one day, not too expensive, around 300$. We had to change one power supply in one of the CM408T, much more expensive, around 900$ from the Euphonic dealer in France. The power supply by itself is not expensive, it is a flat pack and should cost around 300$, but it is very long to change. You have to dismantle completely the CM408T before you can have access. And it takes around 3 hours. So the price…

The last problem I had was last april, suddenly one of the 408’s screen became foggy and the module refuses to start.
I thought it was the power supply but in fact, it was just the mother board battery. The desk was manufactured in 2008 and it was time to change the batteries… No costly really, but took a day of maintenance. I changed too the battery in the MC-Pro itself, which is very easy but too a long time process because of the number of screws to remove. By the way, i cleaned every thing inside, and as I had to re-image the complete desk, I installed the new release candidate software with works perfectly and is ProTools 12 ready. Every works nicely since and it is interesting to see that the new software update of the Avid S6 put the 5-MC and the S6 very close together.
I still am very comfortable with the 5-MC ergonomics, and feel that the MC-Pro is one of the best controller ever designed…
Dominique

Hi KeyplayerG,
I'm on the same hunt as you are, but I find it hard to find 408T's or entire System 5-MC's........may I ask you from which second-hand markets you find your equipment?
A while ago, I had some issues with my (silver) MCPro v1 which all got solved by the OS release candidate (Eddie Jones knows), but when I contacted Avid for support, people told me there are still 408T's and frames available, somewhere @ Avid. I don't know if that's true, but It may be interesting.

Hi KeyplayerG,
I'm on the same hunt as you are, but I find it hard to find 408T's or entire System 5-MC's........may I ask you from which second-hand markets you find your equipment?
A while ago, I had some issues with my (silver) MCPro v1 which all got solved by the OS release candidate (Eddie Jones knows), but when I contacted Avid for support, people told me there are still 408T's and frames available, somewhere @ Avid. I don't know if that's true, but It may be interesting.

Thanks.
Niek/ Amsterdam.

I just Googled used Sys.5-MC for sale and saw what was available. They show up on ebay frequently. I've seen a fiew ads on Gearslutz as well.

The one owner that I know, told me he was having a lot of difficulty maintaining his MC Pro! He doesn't even have the fader issue and it's still a hassle. So, I'm thinking now that I'll just keep saving for a Nuage system, since my primary platform is Nuendo.